Just some random things I've been up to this week so far

  This weekend and week has been pretty busy so far.  I've been listing, planning, organizing and buying way too much stuff.  :P  Here they are in no particular order.

Challenge # 25:

I had a hard time with this list. I had it in my head this list was for random acts of kindness I do personally, but it doesn't say that it has to be so now I feel like my list is stupid. Lol.

 Challenge # 28: This list came out a bit silly. Which makes it one of my favorites. Lol. I especially love that I had a place to add in my distinguished gentleman stamp. I've been waiting to use it for something fun.

Challenge #27:

In case you can't read them, some of my favorite non planner IG accounts are:

damasklove
raemissigman
christytomlinson
alisaburke
andibutler
anetteheiberg
betterthanbunnies
britsketch
cisforfrenchfry

 




Challenege 19: This is an ongoing list and by no means all of my favorite books, just the ones that have stuck with me the most and inspired me most.

 This week feels like a blue/teal, green, pink kind of week. I just hope that fox doesn't catch up to that little owl before the week is up.  ;)

 Spent Saturday night making some fun little books. Sort of like midori booklets I guess? Haven't decided what to do with them all yet but I do believe I will use this one for another list challenge. I added some tabs to make it even more fun.  ;)

Got my second pocket letter from another lovely lady. She even included some chocolate and tea! I've already added the washi tape and a paper clip to my planner. Absolutely Love it! ‪

I really shouldn't be allowed in stores with any sort of art supplies. 

#challenge25 #challenge28 #challenge27 #challenge19 #listersgottalist #lists #listlove #mylistsareweird #gelliprintjournal #theressomuchstufftobuy #cutestuffeverywhere #smile #washitape #ihavenoselfcontrol #whatamigoingtouseitallfor #thefinerthingsinlife #favoritenonplannerigaccounts #favorites #bestbooksihaveeverread #books #planner #planning #plannerlayout #prettypocketpeeks #organizing #handmadebooks #diy #alwaysbelieveinyourself #pocketletters #pocketpals #pocketpalletters #penpal #swap #snailmail #happymail #funstuff

Pocket letters

 I don't think I've mentioned it but a few weeks ago, I decided I wanted to jump on the bandwagon and start doing Pocketpal letters.  If you haven't heard of this, you basically just take a baseball card protector sleeve sheet (that has nine pockets) and fill it with random bits of scrapbook supplies, planner supplies, homemade things, tea, whatever will fit really that you might want to share with someone and then send it off to a penpal or friend in the mail.  The idea is really genius since they fold over perfectly and fit most large enevelopes so obviously I fell in love with this idea and have sent out three (about to be four) letters so far.  Today I got my first one from a lovely lady whose blog is At the End of the Day. It came with all sorts of little beach / coastal things that I can't wait to sit down and play with!
I haven't shared any pictures of mine yet, as I didn't want to ruin any surprises for the ladies I sent them to, but as soon as they all receive them I will try to add those pictures as well. 

#pocketpalletters #penpals #swap #snailmail #happymail #funstuff #pocketpals #pocketletters

#listersgottalist

I'm a bit late to the challenge, but a lovely lady whose user name is TheResetGirl has started a challenge this month for people who like to list things (I think she has a new one ever month?).  This one is called #listersgottalist and she has it set up so that all you have to do is go to the website  and the information is all right there, ready to download and print or write out or whatever.  For some reason I had a hard time opening the Challenge sheet, but the headers worked great so I opened them and printed them out on some avery labels as instructed and just started putting them into one of my homemade gelliprint booklets in whatever way I wanted.  The lists were added in at random and not in the daily order she has, but I think I may go back and add the appropriate date number to each one.  I haven't decided yet.  

 

I've almost got all of my lists completed and since I've started so late, I've had to do several at a time to get caught up before the month ends, but I think it's turned out really well.  It really feels good to have actually finished a whole little booklet like this.  I also feel like it's helping me with my general layouts and keeping more inspired so that I'm actually using my brain to do things and not relying on references or getting sucked into Pinterest to try to find ideas.  In a recent post I had shared another gelliprint journal that I had started but it doesn't have any sort of rhyme or reason or theme, so it's just currently waiting for me to keep adding more in.  I need to figure out what I want to do with it so that I might actually finish it like this one.  LoL!

#lists  #listlove #gelliprintjournals #handmadejournal #theresetgirl #dailylistchallenge #somethingfun #mylistsareweird

Personalizing my planner

 I made some more gelliprints as I used all mine for other projects and decided I wanted one as divider. (The square sheet protector is from a Heidi Swapp memory planner kit I had.) Still working on getting my planner into some working order. I found some calendar/weekly inserts this weekend (that I hate) but they don't even start until July so I have to figure out what I want to do until then. The monthly inserts from cocoa daisy look awesome but I'm hesitant to rush into getting them just yet, in case I won't like them either. I can't seem to find a good layout I really like. And I haven't had much luck with printing my own out.  :/  No matter what I do they look hideous so I definitely want to buy any I get. Guess I'll keep looking and trying to manage until I find some or until July gets here. Lol. 

 
                                                         Just making a mess, as usual.

Forgot I had this little stamp in my stash. It came in a sushi roll crayola stationary kit I found at Big Lots some time ago. I thought it was adorable. It comes with chopstick like pens and a little notepad and sticky notes (the sushi roll one it's sitting on) in a little bento like lunch box. The bottom of this little guy has three stars on it, that you may be able to see in the corner there. 

I placed a small order online Friday for a few things on Oh Deer Me via www.freckledfawn.com and they arrived Monday! I'm amazed at how quick they were! And how cute everything is. I love it! Will definitely be ordering from them again. Can't wait to start using everything! 

I have enough daily memory keepers, but I really liked this book I made from some gelliprints. So I decided I want to use it as a inspiration / memory keeper type of book instead. Sort of like the midori? I often end up leaving these books half unfinished (I have several sitting around in my studio). But I am determined to finish this one. We'll see how it goes I guess. 

Do something remarkable

Another ‪#‎artjournal‬ work in progress. I laid down a layer of masking tape on this first and the colors came out a bit more muted then I liked. I had to keep adding layers to get some of that vibrancy back. Which is what ‪#‎mixedmedia‬ pages are all about right, adding layers? Still I like how it's turned out so far. I picked up some stickers at ‪#‎tuesdaymorning‬ awhile ago that have a bit of transparency to them and used a few of them here. ‪#‎alwaysremembertofollowyourheart‬. ‪#‎dosomethingremarkable‬ ‪#‎painting‬ ‪#‎layers‬ ‪#‎colorfulpages‬

#letscollabthisthing - An art collaboration with...me?!

  A couple of years ago I created this to try to do an art collaboration with another artist.  Things fell through and we didn't get to do one together, sadly.  I've always wanted to do a collab for some reason but have not yet found anyone who has had the time or inspiration to want to try their hand at one with me.  I'm going to pretend they're too in awe of my awesomeness.  That sounds about right...right??  I started thinking about it and decided I wanted to try to do one anyway, but that I would try it a little differently by adding it here and letting those that want to collab this with me have a try at it.  I thought it might be more fun that way then what I had originally planned anyway.  :D

   If you want to do this as a collab, right click on the image above and select "view image".  Once the image is full size in your screen, right click again and select "Save image as" and save it to your computer.  Once saved, print it off or open it in your art program (or however else you plan to collab this picture with me) and get to work! :D  You can paint on it, draw on it, or whatever, it's up to you, it just has to be something creative.  Once completed, scan, upload or snap a picture of it and feel free to share it on your page, or wherever, using the hashtag: #letscollabthisthing.  Just be sure to include somewhere that the piece is an art collaboration with me, Mindy Lou Hagan.  (You can add your name in the lined blank at the bottom next to my name.)

  I would love it if you guys shared this with me.  You can comment here or send it in an email or post a link to my facebook or deviantart page or wherever.  I would love to see what you come up with!  I'll definitely do a shout out post as well and share as many images as I can across my media pages.  So let's get to work and collab this thing! :D 

(If this one goes well, I will try to do some more in various types of my styles so we can collab together again! :D)

#letscollabthisthing #artcollaboration #letsbeawesometogether

Art Journal Play

 Happy Monday (and a belated happy Easter)! Took some time to work on my ‪#‎artjournal‬ pages. They're still a work in progress, but thought I would give you all a peek at what I've been up to.

 On the first page, I took some more gelli prints and made more little houses for this page. ‪#‎letyourwingsunfurl‬ ‪#‎takeflight‬ ‪#‎livewithoutfear‬ ‪#‎gelliplate‬

On the second page, the leaves are glued down but the shadows I added underneath with my ‪#‎watercolorpencil‬ seem to make them look 3 dimensional, which is pretty neat. (The leaves are from ‪#‎gelliprints‬ that didn't really turn out all that great). Also have some random ‪#‎washitape‬ down as well, in some of my favorite coordinating colors.

Awesome stuff

A couple of art journal / painting pictures for this week so far.   

In the one above, you may have noticed a monoprinting / printmaking sort of thing?  (The thick plate looking item on the right next to the blue/circles print.) If you haven't already heard of it, this thing is called a Gelli Plate.  I've seen them around for awhile and have wanted one pretty much the moment I laid eyes on it.  The video tutorials and prints people have created make it look so mouth wateringly awesome.  So, after much deliberation, I decided it was something I wanted.  Well, that's not true, I already knew I really wanted it.  The reason it took me so long to get it is because the only way I can get one is by buying it online.  And I hate buying things online. :P 

But I finally bought one anyway and honestly, I hate that I waited so long.  I LOVE IT!  It creates such cool designs and is so easy to use.  I bought the 8x10 but I've seen videos where you can use the smaller sizes the same as you would a stamp!  There's so much I love about it, it's hard to list them all.  One of the best things is that it lets you create backgrounds so quickly and easily.  It's really not that hard to clean either.  I've heard mixed reviews on that but I cleaned mine pretty well between uses with an old t-shirt rag and water.  It actually feels like a plate of really sturdy, clear jell-o which is kind of weirdly awesome?  When I was sharing it's general awesomeness with my family, they all wanted to (and ultimately did) touch it.  LoL!  It also has a general stickiness to it which is great for keeping it from sliding around.  For my trial run I pretty much left it in the clear package it came in, as you can see, but if you're planning to use it long term, I recommend mounting it to something that's probably a bit more secure and permanent, just so it doesn't move around too much on you.  The more paint I used the more the entire thing seemed to want to move around on me. 

I'm sure you'll be seeing lots more prints in my future posts and hearing more then you want to about it, but I wanted to share this with you guys while it is fresh in my studio.  ;)  Also, if you're looking to purchase one for yourself, I ended up finding that Dick Blick art supplies had them at the cheapest rate and lowest shipping fees, at least for US customers.  (Quick thanks to Alisa Burke for sharing her finds on this as well!)  If you have discount codes you may be able to get it cheaper, but for me they had the best deal I found. 


P.S. I would recommend getting a rubber brayer to go with it as well.  It's not absolutely necessary but I think it would be much easier if you have one, especially if you plan to do lots of layers and want to do them quickly.  I didn't end up getting one with mine but I'm pretty sure I'll probably be picking one up on my next art supplies run.